fifteen years in the past. A PhD candidate doing Research for lengthy days. I used to be swamped with many articles, annotations, emails, bookmarks, and so on. When I discovered a quotation supervisor software, Mendeley, I felt so relaxed. It was like I had management over the method once more. When I discovered a bookmark supervisor, XBookmark, I felt so productive (nonetheless have the bookmarks). They labored nicely for me at the moment, and I completed my PhD program and bought my diploma.
Episode 1 — Dealing with the Actuality
Today, I’ve an existentialist disaster. I see how AI analysis assistant instruments have progressed. I used to be working with Scinito the opposite day, and I used to be shocked. I used to be making an attempt to persuade myself that that is solely a software to assist in the literature overview. Those that did a PhD know the way powerful it’s to do a strong literature overview. It’s not a joke. It’s important to learn over 100 articles, categorize them, perceive them, and summarize them. If I say it took 3-6 months to do a strong literature overview 15 years in the past, I used to be not incorrect. You heard me proper, 3-6 months of your worthwhile lifetime.
At first, I attempted to persuade myself that Scinito, or different related instruments, supply a marginal worth to researchers. Sadly, or fortunately, I used to be incorrect …
Not solely can they do a literature overview for you in a minute (I’m sorry, my fellows, you heard it proper), however they will peer overview your articles. I might always remember how a lot I ought to have waited for my mentors and advisors to overview my article, what number of back-and-forth emails we had until issues bought as much as an appropriate high quality. Even in any case these efforts, you get intensive suggestions from peer reviewers in a journal to think about your article for publication. Or, you bought rejected after 3 or 6 months solely as a result of selecting the incorrect journal to publish. These AI analysis assistant instruments can improve all these steps: reviewing your articles and deciding on essentially the most related journal for you.
Wonderful. It’s certainly superb for researchers on this period, however I really feel unhappy to see how a lot time I’ve spent on one thing that would have been carried out a lot simpler and far quicker. The attention-grabbing half is that this isn’t the top of the season. It’s only the start.
This problem is not only for researchers; it’s also related to software program builders. Instruments like Cursor IDE have reworked how we construct software program dramatically. After my PhD, I began my profession in engineering. So, I did a lot of coding, testing, and so forth. Immediately, I don’t must learn Stack Overflow to debug my code. I don’t must spend time writing checks for my code. I not must be an professional in React, HTML, or CSS to construct an internet site. How a lot time did I spend on constructing websites up to now? I don’t need to give it some thought!
Episode 2 — Embracing the Actuality
Let me share the total half of the glass expertise as nicely. That is tremendous cool. I can ask AI analysis assistant instruments to carry out a semantic search inside an in depth database. One thing that we couldn’t have carried out earlier than. It was simply key phrase matching. I might get updates about any matters or analysis questions in hours by studying the literature overview that AI generates in seconds. I can write LaTeX code simply. I can reformat my paper to any guideline in minutes. I’m pleased for researchers of our time. They will spend extra time on creativity, drawback fixing, and, in fact, their worthwhile life somewhat than doing pointless time-consuming duties.
I’m additionally pleased for myself. I can write code in any programming language that I need. I can construct web sites with out getting locked to Wix or WordPress. I can write any Python code that I would like. I can optimize it and write a collection of checks for it. WoW! It’s tremendous cool. The landscapes of coding, designing, researching, and all the things are evolving quick. Regardless of how a lot individuals or organizations resist, Technology will discover its means.
There’s a catch right here. The promise of constructing an internet site with one (and just one) immediate will not be appropriate. I’m telling this based mostly on a really present expertise. Today, I’m engaged on a brand new web site with a colleague, each of us are consultants in software program and AI. We didn’t even take into consideration Wix or WordPress this time. We began utilizing Curosr and its Agent expertise with Claude-3.7-sonnet. The Cursor’s agent can generate the web site construction in a second, nevertheless it fails relating to particulars.
For instance, once you need to align two completely different texts with one another, particularly when considered one of them is static and considered one of them is dynamic, the AI can’t do it proper. Principally, AI can do the web site construction in a second, however can’t do the required particulars (particulars that you just need to apply as a human on high of the prebuilt construction) in addition to a UI design professional. Meaning, though we don’t must be consultants in React or CSS, we should know the fundamentals to intervene within the codebase when wanted. Plus, we should know the ideas nicely sufficient to elaborate on them. In case you can’t say it, AI can’t make it!
I’m not shocked by this weak spot of AI fashions. They’re constructed on the “knowledge of crowds” precept. It means they’re constructed based mostly on aggregating what’s commonest, not emulating the instinct of a person professional. That is rooted of their fundamentals. They’re superb in generality however undergo in specificity. On this brief podcast, I defined an identical idea from a distinct angle: “The Erosion of Specificity.”
Final Phrases
I’ve been fortunate to be a part of the AI neighborhood. I’m an AI architect with a strong plan to embrace this expertise shift. However I’m involved about many folks who can’t handle this transformation. This isn’t straightforward in any respect. In case you have had an existential second in your profession as a result of AI, let me know. I could know one thing that helps.
If I might share one tip right here, it might be to “Study the basics, deeply.” You possibly can (ought to) go away the repetitive, high-level, and generic duties to AI, and spend your human creativity and experience on the small print to make your work/product shine.
Observe me on YouTube if you wish to hear extra tales from the angle of an AI architect: youtube.com/@AIUnorthodoxLessons/
